OLDER RESIDENTS SEE CHANGE IN '80S PIPER HIGH

SUNRISE -- Lester Miller graduated from high school in 1930, long before personal computers, before electric typewriters, before he even had ball point pens.

Piper High School students recently introduced Miller to what high school is like in the '80s.

Miller, 70, of Sunrise, and other area senior citizens attended the school's "Super Seniors' Day" on Feb. 13. Most of them were surprised at what they found:

Classrooms devoted to computer education; student artwork liberally spread throughout the school; a student-operated radio station; and a gathering area, bursting with school spirit.

Fran Klauber, a parent who helps recruit volunteers for Sunrise schools, organized the program to introduce area residents to the school and encourage them to volunteer.

"I also want students to be sensitive to the elderly," she said. "Many of the jobs that haven't even been invented yet will deal with gerontology. It's important that young people have a sensitivity to the needs of the elderly."

"They have a very active group of administrators here. They're all upbeat and smiling," observed Sy Frolich of Tamarac. "It's not like what I remember."

It wasn't the picture of a failing school system that most had imagined.

"You always hear about what poor shape the schools are in," said Dorothy Orkin of Sunrise. "This is exactly the opposite of what I expected."

The day began at about 8:30 a.m., as the school marching band greeted several busloads of seniors who had been invited from western Broward County. After each was paired with a Piper High student, they gathered in the cafeteria for breakfast.

Over bagels and coffee, students and seniors began to bridge the generation gap.

"Wouldn't you want to go to an all-girls' school?" Orkin asked her host, Debra Krasnipol, a junior. "I went to an all-girls' school and we loved it."

Students and seniors discussed such topics as sex education, extracurricular activities that didn't exist years ago and censorship of rock 'n' roll music. And to everyone's surprise, they often agreed.

After breakfast, groups of seniors toured the school, seeing things that didn't exist in their day.

"What we really want to show you is something totally different from when we went to school," said Sister Therese Roberts, an English teacher. "It's called 'computers.' "

The guests got a quick tour of Piper's radio station and art department, then headed for an abbreviated biology class, taught by Anthony Arico, one of the school's most popular teachers, students say.

Arico gave guests a refresher course on photosynthesis, and demonstrated how plants and animals rely on each other for air and water. He billed it as "The World's Greatest Pingpong Game," complete with a pingpong demonstration by two volunteers from the audience.

"It's like going back to school again. It gives us a better understanding between students and seniors," said Joseph Schwartz, a Sunrise resident who had already spent three years as a Piper volunteer. "I don't get to go to the prom yet, but I'm working on it."

"We are all going to be walking into the 21st century together, in 13 years," Klauber told guests at the closing ceremony. "The future of this nation is in their hands, and I think we're in good shape."